


The Silver Lining Is Just A Break Between Storms

by ThereIsNoTragedyInThat



Series: A Thousand Futures of Me and You [231]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Boys In Love, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Stephen Strange, I've had a bad week, M/M, Sad, That's okay, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, being a superhero is hard, this made me feel better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:00:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24615682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThereIsNoTragedyInThat/pseuds/ThereIsNoTragedyInThat
Summary: Tony would try...try to be the rock that Stephen was for him. He would try to weather the waves that crashed against them until he was able to stand on his own shaky feet again.
Relationships: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Series: A Thousand Futures of Me and You [231]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1118655
Comments: 16
Kudos: 102





	The Silver Lining Is Just A Break Between Storms

“Sometimes I don’t know why I do this,” Stephen closed his eyes on the heel of those words as though he could taste the falseness of it on his tongue. He was quick to amend them, to repeat those words with something much closer to the truth and Tony felt his heart shatter in response. “I don’t know if I _can_ do this anymore.”

The curtains were pulled shut and the darkness surrounded them, suffocating them where they sat on the bed. It felt like a shroud draped over them, a grief coming from Stephen that said something precious had died, something essential and beloved and never to return. Tony’s own eyes began to sting because Stephen was in front of him, his Stephen, who’d always been his rock, weathering storms that would flatten even the most powerful of Gods with nothing but a stoic expression and mournful eyes. This was his Stephen breaking and all Tony felt was helpless.

He hadn’t gotten any details when Wong had called him, his own voice shaken enough to make panic grip Tony’s entire body. The trip to the Sanctum had taken seconds, Wong making a portal once he was sure nobody would see it. Even then, the usually composed sorcerer kept his lips sealed shut, simply directing him toward the bedroom, where he’d found Stephen. Curled up and staring into the distance, he hadn’t responded to Tony calling his name, had only come out of it when pulled into insistent arms.

Except, Tony didn’t need to ask, didn’t need Wong or Stephen to hurt themselves more by explaining. All he needed to know what right in front of him, all the clues that today had been absolutely disastrous. The dark circles under his eyes, the dirt staining his skin and fingernails, the subtle scent of sweat coming from his body…dimensional travelling that must have ended…catastrophically.

Stephen looked at him, tears crowding those soulful blue eyes, “I think I’m done.”

His voice broke and tears slipped down rough, unshaven cheeks. The shame in his voice was a familiar one Tony had felt many times himself since becoming Ironman. The shame of quitting while knowing there were people, lives counting on you, waiting on you to save them. Tony could only imagine that being two-fold with an army of sorcerers at your back, counting on you to help them defend the world.

The worst part of course, was that there were no words to be said. The only thing Tony could do was hold him close and try with the feeble strength of his arms to hold together the man he loved. He’d been through more than anyone should ever have to bear, had somehow stood against a being that Tony’s mind couldn’t even comprehend, faced his own death thousands of times, stood against the might of Thanos, and wielded the Time Stone in a game of chess where the stakes were everything he held dear. All the while, Stephen lived through his days constantly juggling the fate of the world in his hands, chasing the end and trying to keep it all from crashing down with nothing to help him but a Cloak, a Stone, and a friend.

Stephen _had_ done enough. 

But he _wasn’t_ done.

Tony held him close, felt the wetness on his skin from where tears stained his shirt, and tried not let his own slip from his eyes as he pretended, just for a moment, that they would be alright. It was a difficult thing to do and most days, Tony failed at it, at imagining a brighter future where he didn’t have to fight so long and so hard, where both of them would live out their days in each other’s arms.

It was dream Tony wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to see come to fruition. He and Stephen…well all they had was the fight, even on days like today, when all they wanted was to throw it away and let the next poor soul take up the responsibility, there was something that had sunk its claws deep into them both, tearing at the flesh until it gripped the bone, and then reaching deeper, _deeper_ until it held that wild, untamable soul in its grasp urging them on and on.

On days like this, it gripped their souls even tighter, whispered back in angry, hurt little voices that they aren’t worthy, that there is still more to do, that they are not yet finished. Stephen had told him that once, on one of Tony’s own darkest days, had looked at him with steely grey eyes and said exactly what he needed to hear to drag himself up off the floor and swallow back the burn of bile as he stumbled to his bed, ready for a new sun and new hope.

Tony wished he had those words, wished they would just flow of his tongue and magically fill the dread-soaked air suffocating them until it was easy to breathe once more. Nothing materialized in his brain or his heart to ease Stephen’s pain, couldn’t shape the sounds needed to explain that today’s failure, agony, was just that…today’s. Tomorrow would look brighter if not all together good because they couldn’t wallow or stew in the things that hurt them. They had to move forward because this life didn’t wait for them and to let it pass by…well like Tony had said…neither of them could do that.

“I love you,” Tony murmured, pressing wet kisses into his hair. “I’m here.”

In his arms, Stephen trembled, enduring the same way he always did and Tony found himself adrift at sea as he waited, trying to be the rock that his sorcerer always was for him, tried not to falter under the heavy, battering waves of their struggle. It was a small thing, the only thing that Tony could do. Being there…just being there because when the storm finally breaks, there would be more clouds on the horizon and Tony wasn’t ready to let him go, to let _them_ go.

He’d be there for as long as it took, until Stephen stumbled back onto aching and weary feet.

**Author's Note:**

> I've had a bad week. This helped.


End file.
